penmyst wrote:It's not his skating I care about. It's serviceable for a guy his size.

The problem is that he is a small player in a big man's body. Until he is willing to utilize his size, that many players aren't blessed with, to punch his meal ticket in the NHL-- he is going to woefully underperform.

You can't coach it. Maybe you could get Leclair to come back and talk to the kid. Did wonders for Malone. But even when you get past the "know-how" tricks to be gained from a real-deal Power-Forward.... you still need to have the "wanna do it". And Tangradi hasn't shown that. Which is why I'm not in favor of handing the guy Crosby's wing.

Maybe he's just not a power forward & he should be played to his strengths instead of trying to pigeonhole him in a category where he doesn't really belong just because he's big & he hits sometimes.

One of the reasons that I'd like the Pens to acquire Doan is that maybe Tangradi could pick up somethings from him. Not saying that he could be like Doan, but.....he has improved a little. Not ready to run him out of town, yet. However, if he could be a piece of a deal then so be it.

Whilst his skating is still below average Tangradi showed significant improvement winning puck battles, maintaining possession in the offensive zone and lifted the 4th line with some big hits, so I don't understand the continued criticism of 'failure to use his size' - this is something he is learning to do more effectively. He can play 4th line adequately, but in doing so will never display or develop the skating or scoring expected to 'earn' a better spot, the defensive requirements, limited ice and quality of linemates are as much of a handicap as his skating.

IMO HCDB has failed several players by ignoring their strengths in favour of 'getting to our game' (other examples being Martin and Michalek). If the cap space is not filled I'd happily bump Tangradi up a line or two, see if he forms chemistry with Sid, compliments Sutter, or becomes the net front PP guy. If he fails to transfer his AHL success to the NHL we are safe in the knowledge a big trade can be made by the deadline, and we can finally end speculation on whether Tangradi has been given a fair chance!

Tangradi's biggest highlight as a pen so far is literally screening a goalie on a power play while someoneelse scored. I blame bylsma for not figuring out more ways to capitalize on this slug standing perfectly motionless while someone else does the real work.

The guy is a turd. I don't want him on the roster, let alone anywhere close to Sid or Geno.

Froggy wrote:Tangradi's biggest highlight as a pen so far is literally screening a goalie on a power play while someoneelse scored. I blame bylsma for not figuring out more ways to capitalize on this slug standing perfectly motionless while someone else does the real work.

The guy is a turd. I don't want him on the roster, let alone anywhere close to Sid or Geno.

I've seen improvement in his game since I first watched him. His skating while still not so good, looks a little better and as someone mentioned above, he has been winning a lot more battles on the boards. I think he'll at least make a pretty good 4th liner. He can start there and see what happens.

He has the size & strength. He's done all he can in the AHL (decent production), including the playoffs this year.

BUT, at the NHL level he's not been able to produce. ZERO. Some of that has to be mental. Getting rocked in the Isles debacle game certainly didn't help his NHL Mental game. But, like every hockey player, at some point he's got to produce, defend, fill some sort of role. He's got to earn a spot. If he does, then hopefully we can finally put an end to ET' promise/role/departure.

Froggy wrote:Tangradi's biggest highlight as a pen so far is literally screening a goalie on a power play while someoneelse scored. I blame bylsma for not figuring out more ways to capitalize on this slug standing perfectly motionless while someone else does the real work.

The guy is a turd. I don't want him on the roster, let alone anywhere close to Sid or Geno.

AlexPKeaton wrote:The fact is he is just too damn slow. You can't teach speed. He is an AHLer for life in my opinion.

His lack of a good first step and transition will keep him from being a top-6 winger no doubt (that among other things really) but there are plenty of bottom-6 players that could do a lot worse. If LGP'ers stop expecting the world from him, he might not appear so utterly dissapointing.

AlexPKeaton wrote:The fact is he is just too damn slow. You can't teach speed. He is an AHLer for life in my opinion.

His lack of a good first step and transition will keep him from being a top-6 winger no doubt (that among other things really) but there are plenty of bottom-6 players that could do a lot worse. If LGP'ers stop expecting the world from him, he might not appear so utterly dissapointing.

If by world, you mean NHL, then yes, they probably need to stop expecting the world in order to avoid being disappointed.

sil wrote:I think it's already obvious he isn't a detriment to the 3rd/4th line...so "world" would be a 30-goal scoring top-line winger.

I think expectations have been way too high, the system has not favoured him (nor has the coach), but his ability is hopefully somewhere above what he has shown so far. Had he been touted as a 3/4th liner rather than Sid's future winger perhaps people would concentrate more on what he has done (slowly improved physicality and defensive awareness) and not what he hasn't (scored).

IMO HCDB has failed several players by ignoring their strengths in favour of 'getting to our game' (other examples being Martin and Michalek).

Intresting i never thought of this but can't argue with it. But could it be Shero mis-identified their playing styles as to how they would fit into Dan B's system. Cause Tangradi never seemed to be fit for the pens style either.

IMO HCDB has failed several players by ignoring their strengths in favour of 'getting to our game' (other examples being Martin and Michalek).

Intresting i never thought of this but can't argue with it. But could it be Shero mis-identified their playing styles as to how they would fit into Dan B's system. Cause Tangradi never seemed to be fit for the pens style either.

I would agree that it is more about finding a player that fits your system rather than building around their talents in the PENS case. We already have enough guys to define our team and our systems.

On a team that does not have this luxury it becomes important to focus on your core players skill sets and go from there. There are coaches who are excellent tacticians like HCDB and there are coaches that excel at doing with what they got, Hitchcock.